The “gas tank explosion” occurred at “what analysts describe as Iran’s Khojir missile facility. The explosion appears to have struck a facility for the Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which makes solid-propellant rockets, said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.” See “Large blast in Iran came from suspected missile site, satellite images show,” Jon Gambrell, Times of Israel, June 27, 2020.
The Supreme Court makes the news two times in a row (yesterday’s news was the approval of cutting off of fingers). Here is a quote from today’s news. “Gholamreza Mansouri was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court by the ex-Chief Justice Sadeq Amoli-Larijani before he retired. The corruption case is highly damaging to the ex-Chief Justice who now heads the very influential Expediency Council appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.” See “Exclusive: What Fugitive Iran Judge Told A Court In Romania Before His Mysterious Death,” Radio Farda, June 27, 2020.
Quds Force Commander Esmail Ghaani is going places. “Iran news agency reports visit of new Quds chief to Syria,” Reuters, June 27, 2020.
Thank you Leader Obvious. “Iran’s supreme leader warns economy will worsen if coronavirus spreads,” Arab News, June 27, 2020.
This speech by the Leader is in response to the death of the Iranian judge who had fled to Europe with half a million dollars and was found dead in his hotel in Romania. BTW, where’s the money? And the speech was to protect Sadeq Amoli Larijani, former chief of the Supreme Court. “Iran’s top leader urges Judiciary’s constant fight with corruption,” Xinhua, June 27, 2020.
“Eight Iran Protesters Sentenced To Death In Isfahan,” Radio Farda, June 27, 2020.
“Iran Unveils New Domestically-Produced Armoured Personnel Carrier, Drone, Machine Gun,” Sputnik, The Iranian, June 27, 2020.
Read the last sentence. “One of Iran’s most high-ranking and politically prominent clerics has warned the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that his regime’s popularity and legitimacy has been seriously damaged mainly because of injustice as well as economic and cultural problems. In a letter to Khamenei on Saturday June 27, the 79-year old cleric from Qazvin, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha said that “What many people think and say, and their living standards are not consistent with a political system known to the world by its Islamic nature.” Khoeiniha, a former Prosecutor General, and an ex member of the Majles and the Assembly of Experts, is known for masterminding the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and taking over 50 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. Khoiniha said he is sharing the letter with the nation, hoping that his account of the country’s situation would prompt Khamenei to contemplate and do something good for the people. He said in the letter to Khamenei, which was published by Ensaf News and re-run by many other Iranian websites on Saturday, “Increasing inflation and declining incomes have created backbreaking problems for the people that have led to abnormal behaviors and have given way to many concerns for the people about the future of their children.” “At the same time, many others are also unhappy about the country’s political and cultural situation which are marked by undeniable injustice,” said Khoeiniha. Characterizing Khamenei as “the main player” in Iran, Khoeiniha implicitly pointed at Khamenei’s responsibility over problems and shortcomings, adding that the current problematic situation are not simply the outcome of decisions made by managers who are transitional. He stressed that “From the point of view of the people”, the highest authority is the main player in all or most of the country’s affairs, adding that the continued that “the current situation cannot continue.” Khoeiniha said elsewhere in his letter that that “the people believe the highest authority in the country’s management should have prevented the cultural, economic and social chaos the country is facing today.” See “Influential Cleric Tells Khamenei Iran’s ‘Current Situation Cannot Continue’,” Radio Farda, June 27, 2020.